Improvement in revolving fire-arms



D. SMITH.

- REVOLVING mm: ARMS.

No.171,059. Patented Dec.14,1875.

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NITED STATES DEXTER SMITH, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 17 1,059, dated December 14. 1875; application filed October 9, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DEXTER SMITH, of Springfield, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Revolving Fire-Arms; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making a part of this specification and description, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to that class of revolving fire-arms in which a chambered cylinder is used in the rear of the barrel, and with the chambers open at the rear end for the insertion of the cartridges; and'it has for its object the retraction of all the cartridgeshells simultaneously by a forward movement of the cylinder. To this end my invention consists of an extractor-plate, having the same number of projections or fingers as there are chambers in the cylinder, and recessed into the rear end of the cylinder. The extractor has a bearing either in the cylinder or in the recoil-shield, or both, and is provided with a projection extending rearward from the extractor-plate fingers, in which projection is an annular recess, into which a catch upon the hammer enters when it is let down to strike the cartridges, and holds the extractor stationary, and when the cylinder is moved forward all the cartridges are withdrawn simultaneously from the chambers.

Figure I is a longitudinal section through the axis of the barrel and cylinder, and Fig. II is a side view of the cylinder and extractor, with the latter drawn out, as in extracting the cartridges.

In the drawings, B represents the lockframe, A the barrel, and G the cylinder, and the latter is of the ordinary form, and may be arranged with a central extractor-stem, b, of prismatic or other convenient form, and having a plate, a, which is let into the rear face of the cylinder (J to a depth equal to its thickness, and is also provided with recesses corresponding in form, size. and number to the chambers in the cylinder. Upon the rear side of this plate a is a projection, h, with an annular recess, 0, made therein; and although in the drawing the extractor-stem bis shown to extend partially through the cylinder, and therefore having a bearing therein, and the projection h is also shown as extending into the recoil-shield, with a pin, f, made in the shield and extending forward into the extractor, it is evident that it is immaterial as to whether the extractor has its bearing in the cylinder or in the recoil-shield, so long as the extractor-plate enters its recess in the rear face of the cylinder when the latter is moved back against the recoil-shield, and has also a sufficient movement forward and backward to liberate the shells from the extractor, and allow them to drop out after they have been extracted from the chambers. A catch, t, or projection made upon the front edge of the hammer enters the recess 0 just in front of the peripheral shoulder e on the rear projection of the extractor whenever the hammer is let down, so that if cartridges have been inserted into the chambers, and the hammer is let down, either to explode the cartridges or for any other purpose, if the hammer remains down, and the cylinder be moved forward, the extractor will be prevented from moving forward with the cylinder by the catch i, which is in the recess 0, and just forward of the peripheral shoulder c, and the shells or cartridges will all be withdrawn from the chambers simultaneously by the withdrawal of the extractor-plate from its recess in the rear face of the cylinder, or the forward movement of the latter away from the extractor-plate.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- The extractor'plate a, provided with a pro jection, h, extending rearward of the front face of the recoil-shield n, and having a pcripheral shoulder, e, in combination with a catch, '5, upon the hammer, operating through the recoil-shield to draw the extractor-plate from its recess in the rear face of the cylinder, and extract two or more shells from the chambers of the cylinder simultaneously, substantially as described.

DEXTER SMITH. Witness:

T. A. CURTIS, O. E. BUOKLAND. 

